K. R. Srinivasa Iyengar, Professor of English at Andhra University, India, and a distinguished specialist for Indian writing in English, has held various academic and administrative positions and has served on numerous academic bodies. He has published many books of criticism and volumes of verse, and translated into English verse from Sanskrit and from Tamil.
His son Ambirajan taught at the Universities of Queensland and New South Wales from 1964 to 1981. During this time, Srinivasa Iyengar and his wife visited Australia (from February to May 1979). As a result of his Australian experience he published a book of verse sequences, Australia Helix, a selection of his 'responses to places, persons, books' and 'images of the evolving Australian nation' (Preface).